Abstract
Regional television in India sits at the crossroads of culture, identity, and power. As a multilingual nation with deep linguistic diversity, India’s regional TV channels are not merely entertainment platforms—they are cultural storytellers, political arenas, and vehicles of identity assertion. This paper explores how language politics shapes the creation, distribution, and reception of regional television content, influencing both audience behaviour and cultural representation. It examines how linguistic pride, regional aspirations, and political mobilisation find expression in news programming, soap operas, reality shows, and regional OTT extensions. The study also highlights the tensions between Hindi dominance and linguistic federalism, bringing out how regional channels negotiate visibility and market competition in a media landscape still influenced by centralised narratives. Through case studies and audience insights, this research uncovers how regional television becomes a site where language is used to include, empower, exclude, or negotiate identity. Ultimately, the paper argues that the evolution of regional television is inseparable from India’s ongoing debates on language rights, cultural autonomy, and media decentralisation.
Keywords
Language and identity, Regional media, Television culture, Linguistic politics, Indian communication, Cultural representation.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Abhinav Kumar, Mayank Arora "Language Politics and Regional Television in India" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 5 2025 Page 1767-1772 https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I5-1712295
IEEE:
Abhinav Kumar, Mayank Arora
"Language Politics and Regional Television in India" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(5) https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I5-1712295
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